Good Grape Wine Company

The Old World, EU Wine Reform and Battleground USA

In the global village, Americans like to boast that a war has never been fought on our shores; we protect our interests in other people’s backyard. Yet, there is a daily battle being waged on American turf and its combatants are vying for the hearts and minds of domestic wine consumers. The conflict I’m talking about is marketing and advertising for the attention and –ultimately- the purchasing power of U.S. wine consumers.

Yes, the annual pat on the back we give ourselves about the U.S’ progress toward leading global wine consumption has a collateral effect. Ditto that for our annual cheerleading for wine to be the top beverage alcohol choice against beer. Because of this, other countries want their fair slice of our wine buying pie.

The most aggressive frontal marketing charge is being waged by the member states of the European Union (EU) and it affects almost all of the “Old World” wine-related communications we see in the U.S. today.

From marketing outreach with wine writers and journalists, to trade shows, PR, marketing and advertising (especially advertising), U.S. wine consumers haven’t yet seen the crest of the coming wine marketing wave all fueled by a strategic vision to reclaim what the Europeans feel is rightfully theirs –a global leadership position in prestige and sales of wine.

They just might do it too; beating back years of floundering that was based mostly on their hubris and the status quo.

When you watch for it, you’ll begin to see the tell-tale EU flag in virtually all forms of Old World marketing here in the states– on the side of a Reunite truck doing grassroots marketing in a parking lot, in digital ads for Romanian wine, in email newsletters and, most notably, in our wine magazines – any wine magazine will suffice—including Wine & Spirits,Food & Wine, Wine Enthusiast and Wine Spectator.

The most current example is the October 31st issue of Wine Spectator which has nearly 50% of its full-page beverage-oriented ads dominated by EU co-funded wine advertising with an additional seven EU-sponsored quarter or 1/3 page ads.

In contrast, the number of U.S. producers advertising in the same issue? Three – Rodney Strong, Louis M. Martini and a two-page spread from Diageo.

Adam Strum, Publisher of Wine Enthusiast magazine foreshadowed this trend of EU marketing dollars in his “Top Stories of 2010” article from December of last year. In his #3 top story, he noted: “The European Union followed up the market reforms it instituted in 2008 with the promised funding: over a four-year period, well over 828 million euros ($1.16 billion) to support the marketing of European wine. We’re already seeing new styles of labels, unique media concepts and new visibility. Italy is, not surprisingly, leading the charge as the number- one exporter from Europe.”

Ironically enough, or maybe not so ironic at all, the current issue of Wine Spectator is their, “Italian Wine and Food” issue and the advertisers, predominantly, are Italian.

Yet, this marketing outreach funded by the EU isn’t limited to Italy, almost all leading wine member states of the EU including Austria, Greece, France, Portugal, Spain, and Romania have used these monies to ramp up their efforts here in the states.

Interestingly, this battle shouldn’t have the element of surprise; it has been in the works dating to 2006. Yet, when the EU Wine Reform passed in late 2007 and was enacted in August of 2008, it hardly blipped on my wine-loving radar: It was just a collection of headlines in dire need of some context. Now, we can see the ripple effects…I can see the tangible outcome.

What follows is a primer on the EU wine reform effort that will continue to present itself to U.S. wine consumers for at least the remainder of this decade (planning is through 2019). At the conclusion, I’ve included an overview on what I think are the possible long-term implications.

EU Wine by the Numbers

• The EU is the world’s largest wine producer, consumer exporter, and importer representing 45% of the world’s wine growing areas and 62% of global wine production

Member States: A reference to the 27 member countries of the EU. If a country is a part of the EU they are a, “Member state.”

Market Intervention: The process through which the CMO for Wine, with a fixed annual budget of $1.7B (US dollars equivalent), paid for the disposal of excess wine. This disposal of wine accounted for over 60% of their annual budget or approximately $678M. Prior to reform, 15% of wine production in the EU was disposed of every year.

Third Country Markets: Generally, a country outside of the EU where export and marketing is conducted. Examples of leading third country markets include the U.S., Canada, China and Russia.

National Envelopes: Funding allocation from the CMO for Wine to EU member states for their support programs. Up to 50% of the support programs funding can be used for promotion in third country markets. The balance is used for country wine industry infrastructure support and services. National envelopes are funded from a re-allocation of the monies in the wine reform, principally from market intervention.

Planting rights: The ability for a wine producer to plant vines. Currently prohibited until 2015 and left to the discretion of EU member states from 2016 – 2018

Grubbing up: The process through which farmers who aren’t economically viable from a quality or scale perspective are financially incented to remove their vines and farm another commodity. Grubbing up, in conjunction with limitations on planting rights, is intended to balance the EU wine market. Thereafter, producers are presumed to be planting new vines based on market viability.

The Impetus for EU Wine Reform

In the years leading up to the 2006 reform announcement, a number of large trends finally converged on the traditionally hidebound EU member states making the act of doing nothing more dangerous than changing with the times.

Over the course of the last 25 years, declining consumption in the South of Europe, coupled with an explosion in production and imports from the US, South Africa, Chile, Australia and New Zealand led to a narrowing of the gap between European exports versus imports leading to declining domestic market share. This was exacerbated by increasing consumption in the North of Europe where consumers in many non-EU member countries took a liking to New World wines, adding insult to injury.

Besides wanting to keep a wine trade balance (if not maintain a leading margin), The EU had fundamental industry issues to deal with. Notably, 40% of EU wine production was classified as “table” wine and 60% was “quality” wine with regional origin. But, overall, 15% of that total wine production was being destroyed on an annual basis because it was unsellable, including some “quality” wine. Because there were so many EU wine producers farming just an average of 3.7 acres, the producers had become reliant on subsidies while continuing to create a product for which there wasn’t a market that required government “market intervention.” To say the least, the fact that destroying wine represented 60% of the CMO annual budget was a palpable problem.

The EU Wine Reform Objective in a Nutshell

Align a wine program that increases the competitiveness of the EU’s wine producers, strengthens the reputation of EU wine as the best in the world, recovers legacy markets and wins new markets in the EU and worldwide.

• Place a moratorium on new plantings until the end of 2015 and give member states the ability to extend that through 2018

• Align towards a systemic quality orientation with origin of place

• Simplify labeling allowing for varietal designation

The Net-Net on EU Wine Reform Changes

Mission accomplished, so far. A lot of credit needs to go to the former Agricultural Commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel for having the strength of vision and constitution to get the EU reform done in the first place. The old question of, “How do you eat an elephant?” is apropos. EU wine reform was a process that took nearly three years from first public notice to enactment in August of 2008.

As of today, grubbing up vineyards is over-subscribed based on the 432K acre goal. Planting rights, when re-enabled in 2016 or thereafter will allow quality-oriented producers to plant based on market demand, and, well, the third country marketing is happening apace.

Yet, the real question is: What does this mean for U.S. wine business and consumers?

The Implications of EU Wine Reform

Clearly, the U.S. and North America with Canada is target #1 for the EU. We have an active wine culture that is growing unabated and the most disposable income of any country in the world. China and Russia trail a close second as their middle-class economies and wine interest is also growing.

What will be interesting to watch is what happens AFTER this EU Wine Reform transition period (2008 – 2013). In this period of time some CMO monies are being diverted to grubbing up. However, thereafter, until 2019, some 2/3’s of the CMO for Wine budget is going to be allocated to national envelopes, adding to a marketing larder that is already embarrassingly rich.

The monies will be allocated to member states based on vine-growing area, production and historical spends. Therefore, expect to continue to see a barrage of marketing messages from EU wine leaders Italy, France and Spain (Spain has the most potential for becoming au courant, in my opinion). Yet, it’s the other wine producing countries like Portugal, Greece and Hungary that have the most room for explosive growth.

If, at the end of this decade, Portugal and Greece have significantly expanded positions of U.S. market share, some pockets of the wine cognoscenti might chalk it up to the zeitgeist, but we’ll know that the zeitgeist was nudged in a certain direction.

The EU Wine Reform is also fantastic for domestic wine marketing agencies and wine magazines – they now have self-identified prospects. It doesn’t get any better than knowing where the money is. Expect to see healthy balance sheets for years to come. Online-based wine media, including bloggers, will likewise experience the positive benefits – warm bodies are needed for press trips, brand ambassadors will be fashioned and digital know-how leading to areas of marketing innovation will all have value against hard currency. The dark side is that our current understanding of wine media ethics will probably also be immutably altered because where there is money, there is corruption.

Finally, perhaps the most damning indicator is the fact that the U.S. is moving into a period of wine supply balance at the same time the EU is finding balance. If Australia gets their stuff together to get in balance at the same time that consumption is rising, well, there’s only one way out of that situation and its higher wine prices for consumers. But, I’m getting ahead of myself…

As I mentioned, there’s a battle being waged on American turf and the EU has to win the battle before they can win the war. Will they win the war—the war for consumer interest and sales? Who knows, but one thing is certain: The end of this wine decade is going to look at lot different than it does today.

Author Note

1) All EU (€) dollar values and hectares have been converted to US dollars and acres, respectively.

2) A significant amount of research went into this post in order to distill an unwieldy subject into something consumable (no pun intended). If you have a question about source attribution, please leave a comment and I’ll direct you to the source if not already linked.

Comments

From our point of view China is becoming a very interesting market as well. Even if their government encourages wine production in China, our commerce with China is encreasing more and more. Thank you for this very deep analysis.

Also important: The EU is using government money, which we mostly don’t have in the states, to spend on on wine marketing. In addition, the recession has probably reduced the amount of money that California wineries are spending to market their product.

On 09/30, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) wrote:

Very good piece, I just read several books and a thesis on this subject, I should have waited.

On 10/04, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) wrote:

Lest anyone reading this informative piece suspect that the marketing arm of the Italian government and the E.U. somehow paid for Wine Spectator to feature Italy in our Oct. 31, 2011, issue, I’d just like to point out that our tasting report on Tuscany has run in that same issue almost every year since 2000, long before this marketing campaign began. Our editorial coverage and calendar are never affected by our advertisers. That the Italians decided to advertise in our annual “Italy” issue was their decision, and should be no surprise.

Hi there,
as a WSET student, I found this article very interesting and, wouldn’t you know it - our Unit 1 topic is all about the importance of generic promotional bodies for the wine industry! You’ve given me a lot of interesting perspectives to chew on. I’m most interested in your source for funding allocations from the Eu and CMO. Any illuminating information on those sources would be of interest to me.
I’ll check back for more blogs - enjoying what I’ve read so far.
Jen

On 10/09, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) wrote:

I agree with Jen. A good article and certainly gives us lots to think about as we tackle Unit 1 case study brief. Over the last several years wineries have opted out of programs when reviewing finances. They are also evaluating how they could use that money to promote their own winery vs. the entire industry.

Thanks for the comments. I’m glad this is some help in your WSET studies. Do either of you have your case study in a shareable form like a PDF? I’d love to read it. If so, my email address is: jlefevere <at> gmail.com

Jennifer—specific to your question, I have a stack of information that I organized and numbered. Sometime today, I’ll follow-up with a reference point and a link to the research that was used to arrive at budget #‘s.

On 10/12, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) wrote:

Thanks for the great piece. You have articulated yourself extremely well. Do you feel that US wineries are at a disadvantage vis-a-vis Europe or are there similar programs available. I too am looking for WSET info. Thank you!

I don’t think there’s any question that the US can get outflanked within the US in the next decade based on EU marketing dollars coming in.

In the US, there isn’t much unified organization for the *promotion* of wine. The large associations related to wine tend to spend the majority of their work on int’l business development OR policy work around domestic wine shipping and that sort of thing.

The smaller organizations tend to engage in public relations work and not as much broad consumer mindshare activity.

Jeff

On 10/18, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) wrote:

Kudos,very helpful article on generic promotional bodies, you can tell already I am sitting the Nov. 3 WSET Case Study. What about the economical climate at the moment? Will that have an effect on the CMO of Wine’s annual fixed budget? If the legislation is successful, grubbing up, etc. and now where as 60% of that budget is brought down, is it not comprehend-able the annual budget will not be reanalyzed?
Also, I’m American and have been living in Greece for just over 4 years….let’s talk corruption! I find it very hard to believe that whatever amount of euros that are allocated to ‘Greece’ National Envelope will be spend wisely, correctly or even at all…not to be overly negative. I really don’t see a check being handed over to Greece by let’s say Merkel, for the good of Greece’s wine industry? Just saying?
Will be back to check this site, hope for another further informative article that may provide additional insight before the exam.
Colleen

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On 01/07, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) wrote:

I don’t think there’s any question that the US can get outflanked within the US in the next decade based on EU marketing dollars coming in.

In the US, there isn’t much unified organization for the *promotion* of wine. The large associations related to wine tend to spend the majority of their work on int’l business development OR policy work around domestic wine shipping and that sort of thing.

The smaller organizations tend to engage in public relations work and not as much broad consumer mindshare activity.Blazer Pria

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